Page 70 of Omega Forged (Hartlock Omegas #2)

“This looks cozy?” Clay materialized next to me, his arm hooked through Thorn’s. “Room for two more?”

Walden swallowed a low growl and settled for shuffling closer and scowling. I rolled my eyes.

Ajax pressed into my side, a twin scowl on his face. “No.”

“Gee, possessive much?” Clay added with an arched eyebrow. “Should we let go of the lease on your place in The Barracks?”

“Is there someone you know who might need it? I’ll keep paying the rent.”

Thorn’s flint eyes softened, and he looked at my pack. “You’ve got a special omega here. If you break her heart again, there isn’t a fortune in the world that could stop me from ruining you, understand?”

I protested. “I don’t need someone to fight my battles for me.”

“Get used to it, Tully.” Walden nodded at Thorn. Some of his ire faded. “You have the most powerful pack in Starhaven at your fingertips.”

My stomach clenched at the low tone of his voice.

“Oh, are we interrupting?” Seph hovered on the edge of our group, and her eyes widened as they landed on Thorn and Clay. “H-hello, I’m Seph.”

Thorn sucked in a sharp breath, and he raked a slow look up and down Seph’s slinky black dress. It set off her fiery hair like a lit match.

“That’s more like it,” Ajax muttered in my ear with a smile.

“Seph, these are my friends, Clay and Thorn.” I introduced them, fascinated by the spike in their scents, including Seph’s.

Thorn’s metallic scent turned sharp, like a hunter. “A pleasure,” he growled, and Seph shivered at the sound.

“Your pack is here somewhere?” Walden said, oblivious to the tension crackling between them.

I caught my tongue in my teeth as Thorn reined himself back behind his concrete mask. Clay made a soft noise. Disappointment?

“They’re here. I just wanted to say hi and thank you for inviting us. I hope we’ll see you soon.”

“Maybe we can organize a dinner.” Clay quipped and Thorn tensed.

A mountain sprang between the step Seph took back, right into Chase’s hold.

“Will you look at that? Two besties, reunited.” A smirk curved Chase’s chapped lips. Bitterness had hollowed him out, and his sharp cheekbones made him gaunt like a ghost. One intent on haunting me.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” Ajax snapped, trembling with anger.

“Why not? Can’t I get a front-row seat while you pass off my hard work to a spoiled omega?”

The tendon in Walden’s neck snapped straight, and he let out a warning growl as Seph swallowed hard.

“You’re not a victim.” Seph wrenched herself out of Chase’s clawed hold. “You are only getting what you deserve.”

Chase’s scent suffocated my lungs. A storm determined to drown. If he was going down, I was going with him. It sat oily in the unnatural sheen of his gaze. What better way to ruin someone like me than a scandal that would forever clutch at their heels?

“Security,” Walden barked, sensing what was happening as I did.

“Tully promised to wear my mark, but she traded up instead. I’m being punished because I’m not Baylark Pack.” He shouted his reckless words to the room, and the tension pulled taut like barbed wire.

The gathering crowd became a smear of faces as my vision blurred.

“Lies,” I choked out.

“And it’s Hartlock Pack, by the way.” Pan rolled his eyes.

Chase scoffed as three huge alpha guards surrounded him and he put his hands palm up.

“I’m exposing Tully Hartlock for the liar and coward she is.”

“Leave Chase, you're finished.” I lifted my chin.

My stomach, tossed like his stormy scent, wasn’t unsteady enough for me to look him in the eye.

Did he feel it? The way I took my power back?

I did. The next breath I took was weighty with knowing.

Never again would someone hurt me like he did, and I wouldn’t let my life be ruled by the pain he inflicted.

Pan and Lloyd squeezed in on either side of me, touching just enough for me to know they were there if I needed them. Was this how Esta felt when she chose the wildlands and her pack? Having them behind me was the shield I needed to lean into my strength.

Chase let out a rusty laugh, and every eye in the room was on him.

“You’ve already taken everything from me. My pack, business, reputation. I’ve got nothing else to lose.”

My pack rumbled with disagreement. But it was Thorn who spoke. His voice was a low, dangerous rasp. “She asked you to leave.”

He wasn’t looking at me, though. His gaze was pinned on the red marks Chase had left on Seph’s pale shoulders.

“Or what?” Chase’s nostrils flared. “You should thank me. She was a terrified little mouse when I met her. You think she’s going to make your name proud?” Chase lunged forward, startling the guards hovering near him.

“This won’t be the—”

“Speak to her again,” Walden’s whispered threat carried in the dead silent room. “And I will raze the very memory of you.”

The guards grunted as they dragged Chase backward.

He didn’t make it easy for them. Tumultuous sea.

A storm I’d survived. His wild cockiness faded as he saw his brothers in the crowd, and his insults turned to begging.

They tracked him, like Seph, as security dragged him from the room.

There was no recognition in their carefully blank expressions.

“Wait, before you go.” I held out my hand.

I knew Chase would come. Something in my stomach warned me he would slip past security and approach me here today.

The thought niggled at me like a premonition.

So, I made alternative plans to ambush him as well.

I waved to a woman wearing a red suit by the wall and she cut through the crowd, the red like a blood trail.

It contrasted with Chase’s stark white cheeks.

“Are you Chase Campion?”

“Yes.” His voice had a tremor in it.

She whipped out an envelope.

“You’ve been served.”

Chase spluttered as she crushed the envelope in the crook of his elbow and turned on her heel. Job done. Beatrice appeared beside me, her phone in her hand. “Don’t worry, sister, we’re on this.”

Sybil and Lorna looked up briefly from their screens before dropping their gaze again.

“Sister?” My throat narrowed.

“I always wanted a sister.” Lorna leaned forward and kissed my cheek.

“You’ve got two.” Walden clicked his tongue and ushered them out of the way. “Explain, Tully.”

“I’m suing him. Maybe I can’t prove he leaked those nudes. But I have evidence of his assault and I will not let him hurt another person.”

Their mouths dropped open and Pan chased his look of surprise with laughter.

“Seriously? How did you ever doubt your strength, angel?”

“Surprise?” I let my teeth show.

Lloyd pulled me into his arms, replacing the harsh sting of Chase’s salty spray in my nostrils with the cool lash of waves.

“Are you okay?”

With them surrounding me?

“I am now.”

I could finally carry the weight of my name.

With a strength forged in pain and endless love.